Distribution Pattern of the
Major Exploited
Marine Fishery Resources of India
B ULLETIN N O. 6
C ENTRAL M ARINE F ISHERIES R ESEARCH I NSTITUTE
A PRIL 1969
I C A R
BULLETIN OF THE CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (Abbr: Bull. cent. mar. Fish. Res. Inst.)
Number 6
DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF THE MAJOR EXPLOITED MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES OF INDIA
By
K. Virabhadra Rao
April 1969
CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE Marine Fisheries P.O.
Mandapam Camp Ramanathapuram District
India
THE BULLETIN OF THE CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES
RESEARCH INSTITUTE IS PUBLISHED AT IRREGULAR
INTERVALS AS AND WHEN INFORMATION OF A GENERAL
NATURE BECOMES AVAILABLE FOR DISSEMINATION.
FOREWORD
The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute since its establishment over two decades ago has been regularly collecting information on marine fish landings with particulars on fishing effort along with considerable amount of biological and environmental data for getting a continuing picture of the pattern of distribution of the economically important constituent species in space and time and the effect of fishing on the fish stocks. With the steady increase of mechanised boats and exploratory fishing operations by larger vessels in recent years, new areas are being covered and new resources are being discovered. Consequent on the increased export and foreign exchange earnings the fishing industry has risen substantially from the low position it was occupying till recent years and has begun to realise the urgent need for modernisation for its sustained progress. For the development of the industry a proper idea of the resources is essential and what little information our country has on the same is almost entirely based on the data collected, collated and made available by this Institute. The Symposium on “The living resources of the seas around India” held at Cochin in December, 1968 has helped to give us a fairly comprehensive apprisal of our marine resources so far exploited, and the proceedings of the same are under publication. Of the important papers presented there is the one entitled “Distribution pattern of the major exploited marine fishery resources of India” by my colleague, Mr.
K. Virabhadra Rao which is brought out in this Bulletin so as to make it available to the interested public without delay in view of its topical interest.
This gives an account of the magnitude of the regional landings
of the marine fish groups and their seasonal fluctuation in
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abundance from quarter to quarter, both in the inshore and the offshore waters. Much of the charting of the fishing grounds on the continental shelf, explored or exploited in recent years by the powered fishing vessels is based on original data presented here for the first time and this information will help promoting expansion of the trawl fishing industry. An attempt has been made to correlate the regional abundance of fish catches with the prevailing hydrographic and hydrological conditions and plankton production in the waters of the shelf region. The possibilities of stepping up marine fish production at least two times over the present rate of exploitation are indicated by increasing the fishing effort both in the inshore and offshore waters.
The present contribution by Mr. Rao though essentially a compilation is the outcome of painstaking and time-consuming work in which he had received the co- operation of other workers of this Institute. It is with pleasure that I wish to record here my high appreciation and sincere thanks to Mr. Rao and all those who had co- operated with him for the successful completion of the arduous task. It is hoped that the Bulletin will be found useful by those interest in the marine fishery resources of India.
Mandapam Camp April, 1969
S. JONES Director
Central Marine Fisheries
Research Institute
C O N T E N T S
Page
I. INTRODUCT ION … … … … 1
II. FISH LANDINGS IN INDIA
The All – India annual landings for 1951-’65 … 3
State-wise marine fish landings … … 4
III. FISHING VILLAGES, FISHERMEN POPULATION, FISHING CRAFT
AND GEAR … … … … 4
IV. EXPLOITED MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES OF THE INSHORE REGION
Species-wise abundance of marine fishes … … 5
Elasmobranchs … … … … 6
The oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps Val.) … 8
Other clupeiform fishes … … … 10
Bombay duck and Saurida … … … 12
Catfishes … … … … 13
Eels … … … … 14
Garfishes and half-beaks … … … 15
Flying fishes … … … … 15
Perches … … … … 16
Red Mullets … … … … 17
Polynemids … … … … 17
Sciaenids … … … … 17
Ribbon-fishes … … … … 18
Carangids and allied fishes … … … 19
Silver-bellies … … … … 20
Lactarius … … … … 21
Pomfrets … … … … 21
Mackerel … … … … 22
Seerfishes … … … … 24
Tunnies and allied fishes … … … 25
Barracudas and grey mullets … … … 26
Bregmaceros … … … … 27
Soles … … … … 28
Crustaceans … … … … 29
Cephalopods … … … … 32
Miscellaneous fishes … … … … 33
V. THE EXPLOITED FISHERIES OF THE OFFSHORE REGION … 33
North-western division … … … 34
South-western division … … … 42
South-eastern division … … … 52
North-eastern division … … … 52
VI. MARINE BIOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY IN RELATION TO FISHERIES 54
Water masses … … … … 55
Currents … … … … 56
Circulation in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal … 57
Salinity, temperature, thermocline and upwelling … 57
Nutrients and plankton production … … 59
Mud banks … … … … 61
SUMMARY … … … … 62
REFERENCES … … … … 65
I. INTRODUCTION
Of the total fish production of the Indian Ocean estimated at about 2.2 million metric tons in 1969 (FAO, 1966), about 40% is contributed by the landings from India and as in all warm tropical waters the fisheries of this region are supported by a large number of pelagic, bathypelagic and demersal groups which are exploited by varied types of gear. The fishing industry of India, as in most developing countries, is passing through an initial, phase of changing over from the traditional to the modern methods of exploitation.
from the use of indigenous sail craft and rather less effective gear to fishing with the help of mechanised craft and the larger powered vessels operating the more efficient types of fishing gear and other ancillary equipments as the radars, fish finders etc. In the earlier times, the state government looked forward only to increasing the revenues from the fisheries, but in the independent India there has been a change over to offering financial assistance to promote expansion of the fishing and other dependent allied industries, besides incurring expenditure on exploratory fishing, fisheries research and training of scientific and technical personnel. For fisheries development substantial amounts were usefully expended by the Central and State Governments during the First Five Year Plan (Rs. 27.8 million), the Second Five Year Plan (Rs. 90 million) and the Third Five Year Plan (Rs. 250 million) periods. Much information on the potential fishery resources of the inshore and offshore fishing grounds and of the life histories and biological behaviour of the commercially important fish and prawn species has been gathered. The number of mechanised fishing craft increased from about a dozen in 1951 to about 5000 in 1967. There has been an increase in the marine fish landings from 533, 916 metric tons in 1951 to 890, 100 metric tons in 1966 to meet the acute food shortage
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atleast partially. There is a more satisfactory manner of handling and utilising the catches than before because of the increasing facilities for transporting, cold storage, quick freezing and marketing the fish.
The Indian fisheries play a large role in the national economy. Even at the modest estimate of one rupee a kilogram of fish, the marine fish catch in 1966 could be valued at over 89 crores of rupees at the production centres. There are over two lakhs fishermen actively engaged in fishing and many more in the fish trade, fish curing, freezing, canning and other processing concerns who solely depend on fisheries for their livelihood. Over 60 percent of India’s population include fish in their diet and the immediate need is to make it available to those who need it most. In the past two decades a rapidly growing export trade, especially in the frozen, canned and otherwise processed shrimp, besides some quantities of frozen lobster tails, shark fins, frozen fish, fish maws etc., has been built up. This has created an incentive for more and more investiments on trawlers and processing machinery from the private sector. In 1967 the fishery products earned a foreign exchange of over Rs.170 million*. There are indications of far richer fishery resources in the seas around India than are exploited at present. A more intensive applied fisheries research, a further exploration and exploitation of the ocean depths and the as yet unattempted harvesting of the high seas will no doubt place in the near future the Indian fisheries fairly prominent in the map of the world fisheries.
The object of this paper is to present a consolidated account of the recent findings on the regional and seasonal distribution pattern of the major exploited fishery resources with the help of a series of composite charts. The data are drawn almost entirely from the different divisions of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute dealing with Fisheries Survey, Offshore Fisheries Research, Fishery Biology, Marine Biology and Crustacean Fisheries. Clam, oyster and other molluscan shell fishery resources (except cephalopods) and the utilizable seaweeds which are not included in this account are dealt with separately by others. The writer expresses his very sincere gratitude to Dr. S. Jones, Director, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute for suggesting this compilation and offering very kind encouragement while the work was in progress and to Dr. R. Raghu Prasad, Deputy Director, for arranging ____________
*The export value for 1968 is over Rs. 220 million.
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with the Officers-in-charge of the outstation establishments of the Research Institute to make available the necessary data. He is thankful to Dr. R. Velappan Nair, Mr. S.K. Banerji, Dr. R. Subrahmanyan, Mr. K.H.
Mohamed, Dr. G. Seshappa, Mr. D. Chakraborthy, Dr. E.G. Silas and Mr. G.S. Sharma for the kind help and co-operation extended and in making available the data which from the basis of some of the charts included herein. He is deeply indebted to all his colleagues and particularly to Mr. T. Tholasilingam, Dr.
K.V. Sekharan, Dr. M.S. Prabhu, Dr. B. Krishnamoorthy, Dr. M.V. Pai, Dr. M.D.K. Kuthalingam, Mr.
K.C. George, Mr. M.G. Dayanandan, Mr. K. Venkatasubba Rao, Mr. V. Ramamohana Rao and Mr.M.E.
Rajapandian for the analysis, compilation and presentation of the regional fisheries data with some of the charts included in the present work. A reanalysis of the entire data and the presentation of the same in a series of suitable charts were by no means easy and in this attempt the very valuable help received from Mr.
C. Suseelan, Mr. K. Dorairaj, Mr. K. Prabhakaran Nair, Mr. M. Aravindakshan, Mr. A.S. Kaikini, Mr. V.
Kunjukrishna Pillai and Mr. K.N. Gopalakrishnan of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Sub-station, Bombay, is gratefully acknowledged. He is also thankful to Dr. (Mrs.) P.V. Kagwade and Mr. D.M.
Punwani for going through the manuscript.
II. FISH LANDINGS IN INDIA.
THE ALL INDIA ANNUAL LANDINGS FOR 1951-’65: In 1956 for the first time, India’s total fish catch reached the level of one million metric tons. In the 15-years period of 1951-’65 the total annual fish catches ranged from 0.744 to 1.320 million metric tons with an average of 0.979 million metric tons. The annual marine fish catch during the period ranged from 0.528 million metric tons to 0.8796 million metric tons with an average of 0.68786 million metric tons. The world fish production in 1966 was 56.8 million metric tons and India’s total catch in that year was 1.367 million metric tons. She ranked seventh in the world’s fish producing countries, the first six countries being Peru - 8.789, Japan - 7.077, USSR - 5.3488, Norway - 2.849, USA - 2.5146 and Chile - 1.383 million metric tons. The marine fish production of all the countries bordering the Indian Ocean was 2.2 million metric tons in 1966, of which India’s catch was 0.8901 million metric tons forming 40.5%.
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STATE-WISE MARINE FISH LANDINGS: The average annual all-India landings of the marine fish for the15-year period worked out to 687,860 metric tons. Among the maritime states of India, Kerala has ranked first with a catch of 217,392 metric tons (31.47%). Maharashtra second with 154,722 metric tons (22.40%), Madras third with 102,981 metric tons (14.91%), Gujarat fourth with 89,106 metric tons (12.90%), Mysore fifth with 56,851 metric tons (8.23%) and Andhra sixth with 52,293 metric tons (7.57%). The rest, viz., West Bngal & Orissa, Goa, South Andamans and Laccadive Islands, have each contributed to about 1% or even less of the total marine fish landings.
III. FISHING VILLAGES, FISHERMEN POPULATION, FISHING CRAFT AND GEAR.
Based on the survey census of 1961-’62 carried out by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in the eight maritime states of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra, Madras, Kerala, Mysore, Maharashtra and Gujarat the total number of fishing villages is estimated to be 1797, the marine fishermen population 958,937 (active fishermen 229,354) and the number of fishing craft 90,424. Madras State has the highest number of fishing villages and ranking next in the order are Andhra, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal. The active fishermen population is the highest from Kerala (74,241) followed by Madras (56,586), Andhra (47,700), Maharashtra (20.698), Gujarat (11,732), Mysore (8,963). Orissa (8,828), and West Bengal (606). Madras has also the highest number of fishing craft (29,661) and ranking next in the order are Kerala (20,667), Andhra (19,772), Maharashtra (7, 894), Mysore (6,357), Gujarat (3,179), Orissa (2,786) and West Bengal (108). There are over 5000 mechanised fishing craft fishing on the Indian coasts in different states. The powered fishing vessels of the medium and the larger types used in the exploratory fishing by the Government of India, the Indo-Norwegian Project and some of the State Governments are about 50. A small number of trawlers are also in use by the private sector for commercial fishing on the continental shelf.
The fishing craft and gear are varied and are designed to suit the local conditions. On the east coast the sea being rough, the craft is non-rigid like the catamarans and the Masula boats; and on the west
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coast where the sea is comparatively calm, the more rigid types of craft like the canoes and the bigger types of boats are common. The gear is varied to suit the types of fishes caught, like long lines and hand lines for hooking seerfishes, sharks etc., and seines of various types of shoaling fishes like mackerel and sardines. Where the fishing grounds are fairly even with wide sandy beaches bordering them, shore-seines are widely employed for netting collectively all groups of fishes available in the region. Bottom-set gill nets and drift nets are effectively operated for gillng the fishes at a wide range in depths of water columns. Fixed stake-nets are best used where the grounds are uneven or where the tidal flow is particularly good. Baited basket-traps for small percoid fishes in rocky coastal lagoons and cast-nets and drag-nets in very shallower waters are widely used in small scale fishing. In the exploratory and commercial fishing operations by small, medium and large vessels the gear commonly employed are the otter-trawls for fish and shrimps; and some of the larger vessels have regularly used the bull-trawls. Charts 2 to 6 show state-wise usage of the types of craft and gear commonly employed (for details see Hornell, 1924,1938,1950; Chopra, 1951; Jayaraman et al. 1959; Shariff, 1961; CMFRI, 1967; Rao et al.1968).
IV. EXPLOITED MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES OF THE INSHORE REGION.
SPECIES-WISE ABUNDANCE OF MARINE FISHES: Charts 7 to 13 show details of the species-wise or group-wise landings from the inshore fisheries of the several coastal states for the period 1956-’65. Before these are explained it is felt necessary that some particulars of species-wise or group- wise fish landings on an all-india basis should be given. Landings of fish for the period 1957-’65 are available in the CMFRI Souvenir (1967), from which the average annual species-wise landings for the 5- year period of 1961-65 given below are derived.
Table I. Composition of fish landings - average for 1961’65.
Elasmobranchs 36,851 e) Anchoviella 23,904
Clupeiform fishes f) Thrissocles 5,594
a) Oil sardines 175,605 g) Chirocentrus 7,641
b) Other sardines 29,931 h) Other clupeid fishes 15,463
c) Hilsa ilisha 2,096 Bombay duck & Saurida
d) Other Hilsa 7,278 a) Harpodon nehereus 84,977
6
b) Saurida and Saurus 983 Lactarius 7,539
Catfishes 17,893 Pomfrets 19,379
Eels 6,727 Mackerel 41,505
Belone and Hemirhamphus 1,360 Seerfish 10,420
Flying fish 1,536 Tunnies 4,651
Perches 10,808 Barracudas & grey mullets
Red mullets 2,369 a) Sphyraena 1,471
Polynemids 3,403 b) Mugil 1,515
Sciaenids 26,759 Bregmaceros 4,338
Ribbon-fishes 24,873 Soles 10,027
Carangids Crustaceans
a) Caranx 18,403 a) Penaeid prawns 45,976
b) Chorinemus 3,154 b) Non-penaeid prawns 34,422
c) Trachynotus 34 c) Other crustaceans 2,417
d) Other carangids 147 Cephalopods 236
e) Coryphaena and Elacate 299 Miscellaneous fishes 21,358
Silver-bellies —————
a) Leiognathus 21,413 Total 735,131
b) Gazza 110 —————
It may be seen from the Table that first five groups of fish categories whose landings are over 35,000 metric tons are the oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps), Bombay duck (Harpodon nehereus), crustaceans (chiefly the penaeid and non-penaeid prawns), the mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) and the elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays). Among the fishes whose landings are between 15 and 35 thousand metric tons are the other sardines, sciaenids, ribbon fishes, Anchoviella spp., Caranx and other carangids, catfishes, other clupeiform fishes, Leiognathus and pomfrets; those between 10 and 15 thousand metric tons are the perches, seerfish and the soles. Fish which are landed below 10 thousand metric tons are the rest excepting the miscellaneous fishes which formed a fairly high proportion. In the following account the regional and the seasonal availability of the individual categories of fishes is dealt with.
ELASMOBRANCHS: In the all-India annual average marine fish landings for the 1961-’65 period the elasmobranchs viz., sharks, skates and rays rank fifth in abundance forming 5%. In the major state-wise landings the annual average for the period 1956-’65 was the highest in Madras state (8,879 metric tons) and ranking next in the order are Kerala (6,423 metric tons), Andhra (4,928 metric tons), Gujarat (4,685 metric tons), Maharashtra (3,502 metric tons), Mysore (1,805 metric tons) and West Bengal & Orissa (228 metric tons). In Madras State, where they are most
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abundant, the third quarter landings are the highest in the year, the first and second quarters’ catches are fairly high and the fourth quarter’s catches are the lowest. In other states on the east coast i.e., Andhra and West Bengal & Orissa the seasonal trends of catches are verymuch the same as in Madras. Contrasted with this, in all the states on the west coast the fourth quarter’s catch is the highest and ranking next is that of the first quarter. The lowest catch in Gujarat and Maharashtra is in the third quarter, whereas in Mysore and Kerala it is in the second quarter. Of the elasmobranch catches from eight states those on the east coast formed about 46% during the 10-year period (Charts 7-13).
The genera and species constituting the catches on both the coasts are the same, the more common among them being Chiloscyllium griseum M.H., Stegostoma varius (Seba), Scoliodon palasorrah (C.), Scoliodon sorrakowah (C.), S. walbeehmi Blkr., Hypoprion hemiodon M.H., Carcharinus bleekeri Dumeril, C. dussumieri (M.H.), C. gangeticus (M.H.), C. limbatus (M.H.), C. melanopterus (Q.G.), C. menisorrah (M.H.), Galeocerdo arcticus (Faber), Sphyrna blochii (C.), S. zygaena (L.), Rhinobatus granulatus (C.), Rhynchobatus djiddensis (Forsk.), Pristis cuspidatus Latham, P. microdon Latham, Dasyatis (Himantura) bleekeri (Blyth), D. (H) uarnak (Forsk), Aetobatus flagellum (Schn.), Rhinopters javanica (M.H.), and Manta ehrenbergii (M.H.).
Some of the elasmobranchs attain gigantic sizes. Rhincodon typus (Smith), the whale shark, is the largest of this group growing to over 15 metres in length. Among the man-eating sharks Alopias vulpinus (Bonn.) and Galeocerdo arcticus are about 4.5.metres in length. Among the rays Aetobatus flagellum attains 3.3. metres across the disc. All the saw fishes (Pristis spp.) also grow to very large size of over 4.5- 7 metres in length.
Elasmobranchs are caught by different types of gear used for capturing other fishes. For the larger species of oil-yielding sharks a special types of gear, the revolving chain hooks, is widely used. While the elasmobranches occur in all the regions, the chief fishing centres are Kodinar, Veraval, Bombay, Karwar, Mangalore, Tellicherry, Kozhikode and Trivandrum on the west coast and Tuticorin, Adirampattinam, Point Calimere, Nagapattinam, Kakinada, Masulipatnam, Visakhapatnam and Contai on the east coast.
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Although not very good eating, the elasmobranchs are widely used as food either in fresh on cured (salted and dried) condition. They are besides used for making fish meal and fish manure. During the Second World War, when cod liver oil was scarce in this country, a new industry had sprung up for processing shark liver oil for medicinal purpose because of its very rich vitamin A content of a potency of 10,000 to 24,000 International Units per Gram Weight of the oil. The species found rich in vitamin content are Galeocerdo arcticus, Carcharhinus melanopterus, C. gangeticus, C. limbatus, C.menisorrah, Sphyrna blochii, S. zygaena, Pristis cuspidatus, Scoliodon palasorrah, and S.
walbeehmi. Some of the rays and sharks yield huge quantities of oil which, though not utilized for medicinal purpose, is used to a large extent in the leather industry for tanning etc. There is an export trade in dried fins of sharks to some of the Far Eastern countries, the exporting centres being located at Bombay, Madras and Nagapattinam. Tanned shark skin is utilized as leather in various places in the world, but it has not been used in India.
THE OILSARDINE (Sardinella longiceps Val.): The annual average catch of the oil sardine of the family Clupeidae for 1961-’65 has been 175,605 metric tons forming 23.88% of the total marine fish catch. The annual fluctuations in the catches of no other species of commercial fish are so marked as those of the oil sardine. In the 15-year period of 1951-’65 (Prabhu, 1967) the lowest catch of the oil sardine was 7,412 metric tons in 1956 forming 0.1% and the highest catch was 274,333 metric tons in 1964 forming 31.9%. Thus when the fishery is good it forms a third of the marine fish catch of the country. As may be seen from the charts 7 to 13 the fisheries are important in two maritime states, Kerala and Mysore.
Based on the 10-year average it is seen that Kerala’s oil sardine catch is about half of the marine fish catch of the state; it is about eight times the catch of the oil sardine in the Mysore state. These figures clearly indicate the unique position Kerala enjoys in the oil sardine fishery of India.
Oil sardines occur along the coasts of Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Ceylon, Andamans and in Java and Bali Straits.In India this species occur in abundance supporting good fishery from Quilon in the south to Ratnagiri in the north. Beyond the northern border of the Mysore
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state the catches dwindle. In Madras, Andhra and Andamans only stray catches are met with.
In Kerala boat-seines (Mathikolli vala, Pattenkolli vala, Thattum vala, PaithuVala, Nona vala),gill-nets (Mathichala vala and Nethel vala) and cast-nets (Veechu vala) and in Mysore shore- seines (Rampani, Kairampani and Yendi), gill-nets (Ido bale etc) and cast-nets (Koori bale) are the common types of gear in use in the oil sardine fishery.
In both the states, Kerala and Mysore, the landings in the fourth quarter are the highest, in the first quarter moderate and in the third and second quarter poor (charts 9 and 10). The fishery commences on the west coast after the outbreak of the south-west monsoon. Big-sized fishes in advanced stages of maturity along with many small-sized sardines appear in August-October. In the peak season of September to January the catches are made up chiefly of juveniles ranging from 12 to 15 cm; thereafter the fishery dwindles and is closed by about April-May. The species attains sexual maturity at about 15 cm; and appears to have protracted spawning from July to about November. Where the oil sardines spawn, where from they arrive in the inshore waters to support fisheries and to where they go after the fishing season are little known.
Oil sardines are used as food both in the fresh and cured conditions. The body oil content being pretty high, it is extracted and put to use in the jute, leather and soap industries. The fish manure is used as a fertilizer in the cocoanut, coffee and the tea plantations. The oil extracted by crude methods is applied to the fishing craft as a repellant to prevent the attack of the wood by marine borers. There are a few establishments on the west coast for canning the oil sardines in the medium of edible oils. This being an easily pershable fish, proper cold storage facilities are essential to deal with the catches at the landing centres.
The fisheries, both annual and seasonal, are unpredictable. One of the factor governing the fluctuations in the fishery in the coastal waters is the availability of the diatom, Fragilaria oceanica Cleve which seems to be the favourite food of the oil sardine (Nair and Subrahmanyan, 1955; Nair, 1958).
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OTHER CLUPEIFORM FISHES: Besides the oil sardine there are the other clupeiform fishes belonging to a few families which together constitute a fairly good proportion of the marine fish catches all along the coasts (12.5% annual average, 1961-’65). Of these the other sardines and the related fishes (family Clupeidae) are the most important (4.07%). They are represented by the more common species, viz., the white sardine Kowala coval (C.), the short bodied sardine Sardinella albella (Val.), the gibbose sardine S. jusseiu (Lac.), the fringe scale sardine S. fimbriata (Val.), the spotted sardine Ambligaster sirm (Walbaum), the toothed shad Pellona ditchela Val., the Indian shad Euplatygaster indica (Swainson), the slender shad Ilisha elongata (Bennett), the jewlled shad Ilisha filigera (Val.), the true hilsa Hilsa ilisha (Ham.), the Chinese herring Hilsa toli (Val.), the long-finned herring Opisthopterus tardoore (Cuv.), and the Russel’s herring Raconda russelliana Gray. The white sardine fishery is important only on the south-west coast. S. fimbriata is the most abundant of the other sardines on all coasts. S.
albella and S. jusseiu are caught in particular abundance on the south-east coast of India near Mandapam (Sekharan, 1967). Hilsa ilisha is a migratory fish ascending all the major river systems, where it is caught in considerable quantities. In coastal waters it occurs in the vicinities of the river mouths especially Narmada, Tapti, Cauvery, Pennar, Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi. Hilsa fisheries in the estuaries of West Bengal are of particular importance because of the high magnitude of the landings.
Of the clupeiform fishes, the common members of the family Dorosomidae are Nematalosa nasus (Bloch) and Anodontostoma chacunda (Ham.-Buch.). These are small fishes obtained in small quantities on all coasts. The rainbow sardines Dussumieria acuta Val. and D. hasseltii Blkr. are common on all coasts but not abundant. The anchovies (family Engraulidae) include Coilia dussumieri Val., Anchoviella commersoni (Lac.), A. indica (V. Hass.), A. heterolobus (Ruppell), A. baganensis (Hardenberg), Thrissocles malabaricus (Bl.), T. mystax (Schn.), T. setirostris (Brouss.) and T. dussumieri (Val.) occurring in large quantities (about 4% of the marine fish catch) and are of considerable importance in Madras, Kerala and Andhra.
In Gujarat and Maharashtra miscellaneous clupeoids are in abundance in the fourth and the first quarters of the year with the peak catches
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in the fourth quarter. In Mysore the catches of the other clupeoids are high in the fourth quarter. In Kerala the other sardines are in abundance in the first, third and fourth quarters with the peak landings in the fourth quarter; the other clupeoids are best obtained in the third quarter. In Madras the other sardine catches are good all round the year. Hilsa is best obtained in the first quarter and the miscellaneous clupeoids in the third quarter. In Andhra the other sardines and miscellaneous clupeoids are highest in the first quarter and are in fair quantities in the fourth quarter. In West Bengal & Orissa the other sardines and the miscellaneous clupeoids are abundant in the first and the fourth quarter (charts 7 to 13).
The major divisions of the Order Clupeiformes include in addition to the aforesaid families a few others viz., Albulidae, Elopidae, Megalopidae, Chanidae and Chirocentridae represented by Albula vulpes (Linn.), Elops saurus (Linn.), Megalopscyprinoides (Brouss.), Chanos chanos (Forsk.) and Chirocentrus dorab (Forsk) all of which grow to a large size. The first three are carnivorous. 60 to 90 cm when full grown and common but not abundant in all the coastal waters. The milk fish Chanos chanos is solely a plankton feeder attaining a maximum size of nearly 1.8 meters occurring both in the inshore and offshores waters. Its minute fry in enormous numbers enter the shallow coastal lagoons and creeks in summer months. Chanos culture is widely practiced in Java, Indonesia and Phillippines in brackishwater farms knownas “Tumbaks”. In India Chanos culture is attempted with much success in marine and brackishwater fish farms and in freshwater tanks, ponds etc. in Kerala and Madras. The growth of Chanos in freshwaters is more rapid than in the salt waters; but in the former environment the fish do not attain sexual maturity. The genus Chirocentrus is dealt with separately in the following account.
The dorab or the wolf herring, Chirocentrus dorab (Forsk.), a carnivorous fish, although distributed on all coasts, is comparatively more abundant on the east coast, especially in Madras state, where its catches are the highest among all the maritime states. Its reported maximum length is 3.5 metres, but fish measuring about 1 metre are not uncommon in the commercial catches. The fish seems to breed in the offshore waters. The major catches are landed by shore-seines and
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gill nets. In Madras, Andhra, West Bengal & Orissa and Kerala the catches are high in the first and the fourth quarters. In general the peak catches are in the fourth quarter. In Gujarat, Mysore and Maharashtra the catches are insignificant and are included in the miscellaneous fishes (charts 7 to 13). In the 1961-’65 period the annual average of this fish is 1.04% in the total marine fishes landed in India. There is a second, much smaller species, C. nudus Swainson growing to about 45 cm in length occurring occasionally in the inshore fish catches.
BOMBAY DUCK AND SAURIDA: The Bombay duck, Harpodon nehereus (Ham.) of the family Synodidae supports a very important fishery, especially on the north-western coast of India. Outside India it is known to occur on the east coast of Africa, Malaya, Indonesia and China. In the all-India landings of marine fish for 1961-’65 the annual average of the Bombay duck was 84,977 metric tons and Saurida and allied genera, 983 metric tons. All these members are treated together as one group because of their taxonomic affinities. This group ranks second forming about12% in the total marine fish landings.
Within this group Bombay duck forms 98.86% and Saurida and others 1.14%. Among the eight main coastal states Gujarat has given the highest landings (54,018 m etric tons) on an annual average for the period 1956-’65 and Maharashtra ranking second (35,454 metric tons). Mysore, Kerala and Madras show no landings and Andhra has given an annual average of 640 metric tons and West Bengal & Orissa 650 metric tons. There is thus a discontinuous pattern of distribution. Of the total landings of Bombay duck, 98.58%come from Gujarat and Maharashtra and 1.43% from Andhra, Orissa and West Bengal in the said 10-year period.
It may be seen from charts 7, 8, 12 and 13 that in all the states where they are caught the landings are the highest in the fourth quarter. In Gujarat and Maharashtra the landings are the lowest in the third quarter; in the two states respectively, the first and the second quarters catches are moderate. In the landings from the east coast states the catches are moderate in the first quarter and rank second in those of the fourth quarter; they are poor in the third quarter and poorest in the second quarter. In brief it appears that the fishery is good from October to March in Gujarat, Andhra and West Bengal & Orissa and October to May or June in Maharashtra.
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In the 15 years period of 1951-’65, the fluctuations in the annual landings have been very marked.
In 1951 the landings amounted to 7,261 metric tons (1.36%) and they increased fairly gradually to 128,880 metric tons (17.93%) in 1956. In the years that followed there has been a decrease up to 73,894 metric tons (9.06%), in 1965. On the west coast fishing is mainly by fixed bag-nets (“Dol”) which are operated 9-20 km from the coast at depths of 20-30 metres. The types of gear used on the Andhra coast are the boat-seines; on the Orissa coast and in the estuaries of West Bengal fixed bag-nets of different kinds are operated.
H. nehereus is the only species supporting the Bombay duck fishery on the Indian coasts. It is known to attain a total length of 381 mm. At 210 mm length the fish attains sexual maturity. The size range of the fish in the commercial catches is 60-270 mm. About 80% of the individuals in the catches are juveniles. Although individual fishes appear to breed only once a year, the species as a whole breed almost throughout the year. The morphometric studies have shown that the fisheries at various places on the Maharashtra coast are supported by a single stock, whereas those of Gujarat and Andhra coasts are supported by independent stocks (Bapat, 1967). The wanderings of the Bombay duck (Hora, 1934) which bring about fisheries of much regional importance along certain coasts seem to be influenced by two main factors i.e., the availability of the food and the favourable salinity medium of the waters.
A portion of the catch is used as food when fresh but the bulk of it is sun-dried. Being a very soft fish it is easily spoiled. When the landings arrive late the catch is very often not in a fit condition for human consumption and is perforce converted into manure. The fish is sun-dried on specially erected bamboo scaffolding.
The closely related forms viz., Saurida tumbil (Bl.), S. undosquamis (Richardson) and Trachinocephalus myops (Schn.) are obtained in occasional catches all along the coast. When these are in insignificant quantities, they are recorded along with miscellaneous fishes in the fishery survey data.
CATFISHES: The marine catfishes belong to two families, Plotosidae
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and Tachysuridae. The former includes a few species under the genus Plotosus. The common species are P. canius Ham. and P. anguillaris (BL.) which grow to over 75 mm in length. They inhabit the coastal waters and often enter the backwaters and estuaries. Family Tachysuridae includes a very large number of commercial species of catches of which Osteogeniosus militaris (Linn.). Tachysurus sona (Ham.). T.
maculatus (Thunberg), T. caelatus (Val.), T, thalassinus (Rupp.) T. dussumieri (Val.) and T. jella (Day) are common. A few of them attain a large size; T. sona, for example, grows to about 1 metre in length.
Although all the species are found on all coasts in this country, T. thalassinus and T. dussumieri are best obtained from Kerala. T. jella is comparatively more abundant on the east coast. All being predacious and carnivorous, the catfishes are very destructive to other fishes. They are caught in all types of gear, particularly hooks and lines, and are consumed in fresh or cured conditions. The air bladders are used for the manufacture of isinglass.
In the annual average for 1961-’65the catfishes have formed 2.43% of the total marine fish catch.
Their landings are the highest in Kerala; Maharashtra, Madras, Gujarat, Andhra, Mysore and West Bengal
& Orissa follow in the order of decreasing abundance. In Kerala the catches are the highest in the second quarter, but there is practically little difference in the relative abundance from quarter to quarter. In Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mysore and West Bengal & Orissa the highest seasonal catches are in the fourth quarter and in Madras and Andhra they are in the third and first quarters respectively (charts 7 to 13).
EELS: A large number opf eels occur in the coastal and offshore waters. Anguilla bengalensis (Gray and Hardw.) of the family Anguillidae, Muraenesox talabonoides (Blkr.) and Muraenesox cinereus (Forsk.) of the family Muraenesocidae are the common commercial species. The former is fairly abundant on the east coast while the latter two species in the north-western coast of India. M. talabonoides grows to a large size, upto about 2 metres in length. All eels are predacious and carnivorous. In the annual average catch of marine fishes for the period 1961-65 eels formed 0.9%. In the 1956-’65 period Maharashtra’s annual average catch of eel was 4,519 metric tons forming 3.02% of the state’s total
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marine fish catch and this was the highest among the eel catches of all states. Gujarat ranked next with 1,115 metric tons of eels forming 1.14% of the total marine fish catch of that state.
GARFISHES AND HALF-BEAKS: The common garfishes of the family Belonidae are Tylosurus
strongylurus (V. Hass.), T. crocodilus (Le Sueur) and Xenentodon cancila (Ham.-Buch.). The half- beaks of the family Hemirhamphidae are represented by Zenarchopterus dispar (Val.), Hyporhamphus gaimardi (Val.), H. unifasiatus (Ranzani), Hemirhamphus georgii (Val.) and H. marginatus (Forsk.).
The half-beaks grow to about 15 to 30 cm. The gearfishes grow to bigger size, as T. crocodilus which is over a metre in length when full grown. These fishes in the 5-year period 1961-’65 have given an annual average of 0.18%. In Madras state, where they are in comparatively greater abundance, the catches are the highest in the second quarter (chart 11).
FLYING FISHES: These are represented in India by Parexocoetus brachypterus (Rich.),
Exocoetus volitans Linn., Cypselurus bahiensis (Ranz.), C. poecelopterus (Cuv. & Val.), C. altipennis (Val.) and C. coromandalensis Hornell and are obtained with other fish catches in small quantities all along the coast. However, in Madras state they support an important fishery along the Coromandal coast from point Calimere to Madras. Specially built large sized sail-catamarans called Kolamarams are used in the fishery which commences by about May and lasts till July or August. These fish inhabit offshore waters 30 to 40 kilometres away from the shore and have the habit of depositing their eggs on floating weeds like Sargassum spp. The fishermen carry bundles of Pandanus leaves or twigs of Tephrosia which are tied to long ropes and suspended in the sea to lure the fish. As they are attracted by these lures to deposit their eggs, they are scooped by nets which are emptied into the catamaran. Much of the fishing is done from Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Madras. Almost the entire catch is salted and sun-dried. As may be seen from chart 11 the bulk of the landings is in the second quarter of he year. In Madras state the flying fishes constitute as much as 1.72% of the marine fish catch. In the all-India annual average catch for 1961-65 flying fishes formed 0 .21% of the total landings.
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PERCHES: Perches and perch-like fishes belong to a large number of families with great many species under them. The following genera are common: Lates and Psammoperca (Latidae); Ambassis (Ambassidae); Holocentrus, Serranus, Epinephelus (Serranidae): Pelates, Eutherapon, Therapon (Theraponidae): Priacanthus (Priacanthidae): Apogon, Apogonichthys (Apogonidae): Sillago (Sillaginidae); Aprion, Pristipomoides, Lutianus (Lutianidae), Nemipterus (Nemipteridae): Lobotes (Lobotidae): Pentaprion, Gerres, Pertica (Gerridae); Pomadasys (Pomadasyidae): Scolopsis (Scolopsidae); Gaterin (-Diagramma) (Plectorhynchidae); Lethrinella, Lethrinus (Lethrinidae); Argyrops, Acanthopagrus (Sparidae); Ephippus (Ephippidae) Platax (Platacidae): Drepane (Drepanidae) Pomacentrus, Amphiprion, Abudefduf (Pomacentridae); Siganus (Siganidae): Acanthurus (Acanthuridae); Kurtus (Kurtidae), etc. These fishes are abundant in coastal waters and more particularly around the coral reefs and in the rocky bottom of the sea even at considerable depths. The size varies much; some species like Epinephelus tauvina (Forsk.) grow to about 2.1 metre and a few of the Apogon species do not exceed 8 to 10 cm in length. Perches are caught by hook and line, gill-nets, seines and baited basket traps.
Lates calcarifer (Bloch) called ‘Bekti’ is a coastal fish which enters and survives well in estuaries, backwaters and also in freshwater. In ponds and tanks it lends itself to culture and grows rapidly, feeding on a variety of organisms. Being predatory, it is rather harmful to other fishes in mixed fish pond culture.
The maximum size known is 152cm but the usual size in the commercial landings is about 45 to 60 cm.
Perches have formed 1.47% of the marine fishes in the annual average catch for 1961-’65period.
As seen from charts 8 to 12 these fishes are most abundant in Madras state where they form 4.1% of the marine fish catch, Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra ranking next in the order given. The highest catches of perches in Maharashtra and Mysore are in the fourth quarter; in Kerala and Madras in the third quarter and in Andhra in the second quarter.
Some of the perch-like fishes, as the carangids, sciaenids, red mullets etc. which form regular fisheries, have been dealt with separately.
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RED MULLETS: The red mullets or goatfishes of the family Mullidae are small-sized fish often brightly coloured and represented by a large number of species of which Upeneus sulphureus Cuv., U.vittatus (Forsk.) and Parupeneus indicus (Lac.) are common on both the east and west coasts. In the all- India annual average for 1961-’65 the red mullets amounted to 2,639 metric tons forming 0.36% of the marine fishes.
POLYNEMIDS: The thread-fins of the family Polynemidae, of which 9 species are so far known from India viz., Eleutheronema tetradactylum (Shaw), Polydactylus indicus (Shaw), Polynemus heptadactylus Cuv., P. sextarius Bl., P. plebeius (Brouss), P. sexifilis Val., P. paradesius Linn., P.
xanthonemus Val., and P. microstoma Blkr. occur in all coastal waters on the continental shelf and frequent the backwaters and estuaries some of them even ascending up the rivers a few miles from the river mouths. E. tetradactylum grows to 180 cm and P. indicus to 140 cm and the rest are small usually not exceeding 30 cm in length. They are all carnivorous fishes. E. tetradactylum (the Indian Salmon - Rawas), P. indicus (Dara), P. heptadactylus (Shende), P. paradesius (Mango fish) and P. sextarius support fisheries in this country. The most important polynemid fishery is located in the north-western part of India in Bombay-Saurashtra waters, the chief commercial species there being Dara Rawas and Shende (Kagwade, 1968).
The annual average of the polynemids for the 1961-’65 period was 3,403 metric tons forming 0.46% of the total marine fish catch. In the major state-wise landings of polynemids for the 10-years period 1956-’65 the annual average for Gujarat state was 2,100 metric tons, Maharashtra 2,692 metric tons and Madras 623 metric tons. In Gujarat and Maharashtra the catches are high in the first two quarters.
In Madras state the landings are more or less equal, although low, in all the quarters (charts 7, 8 and 11).
SCIAENIDS: The members of the family Sciaenidae are well represented by a large number of species popularly known as the Jewfishes, occurring in abundance on all the coasts. Some of the larger species Pseudosciaena diacanthus (Lac.) (Ghol) and Otolithoides brunneus (Day) (Koth) support important fisheries and are highly priced. A number of smaller species are low-priced and are known collectively as Dhoma in
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Gujarat and Maharashtra. The sciaenids in the all-India marine fish catches formed 3.64% in the annual average for the 5-years period of 1961-’65 amounting to a total of 26,759 metric tons. In the 10-year period of 1956-’65 among the maritime states Maharashtra ranked first, where the sciaenid catches formed 6.14% of the total marine fish catch of the state; Madras second with 5.43%, Andhra and Gujarat ranking next with 6.84% and 3.28% respectively. In Gujarat and Andhra the peak catches are obtained in the first quarter; in Maharashtra and West Bengal & Orissa in the fourth quarter and in Mysore. Kerala and Madras in the third quarter (charts 7 to 13).
Pseudosciaena diacanthus (Lac.), Otolithoides brunneus (Day). Johnius coibar (Ham.), Otolithus ruber (Schn.) and O.argenteus Cuv. grow to a large size of 60 to 120 cm in length. Sciaena dussumieri (Val.), S. russelli (Cuv.), J. aneus Bl., J. maculatus Schn., J. sina (Cuv.) and J. axillaris (Cuv.) grow to 20 to 30 cm in length. As a byproduct of the fishery, their air bladders are collected, sun- dried and exported in quantities for the manufacture of isinglass. The air bladders of sciaenid fishes are priced higher than those of the polynemid fishes.
RIBBON-FISHES: Ribbon-fishes or hair-tails of the family Trichiuridae, represented in the Indian waters by Trichiurus Iepturus Linn., Lepturacanthus savala (Cuv.), Eupleurogrammus intermedius (Gray) and E. muticus (Gray) are important, low-priced food fishes landed in quantities at all the fishing centres on the east and the west coasts, but in particular abundance in Kerala, Madras and Andhra. The all-India annual average landings of the ribbon-fishes in the 1961-’65 period have been 24,873 metric tons which formed 3.38% of the marine fishes. The catches have been found to vary widely from year to year. In the 5-year period the lowest catch was 16,452 metric tons in 1963 forming 2.50%
and the highest was 41,921 metric tons in 1965 forming 5.03% of the marine fishes of the country.
In the average landings of marine fishes for 1956-’65 within the maritime states, it is found that ribbon-fishes formed 0.95% in Gujarat, 2.84% in Maharashtra, 2.07% in Kerala, 11.19% in Madras, 7.5% in Andhra and 7.11% in West Bengal & Orissa. Nearly 50% of the all-India ribbonfish catch is contributed by the Madras state.
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T. lepturus is the most important ribbon-fish our coast and the commercial catches have individuals usually in the size range from 16 to 18 cm. Individuals of over 1 metre in length are not uncommon. The dominant groups differ from place to place, but in general all the age gropus are met with. The commercial size of E. intermedius is from 14 to 35 cm and of L.savala and E.muticus from 25 to 75 cm. The latter two species are comparatively in greater abundance in the northern latitudes (James, 1967).
The breeding grounds of ribbon-fishes appear to be in the far off deeper waters. T. lepturus is known to spawn once a year and the other species more than once. The entry of shoals into the inshore waters seems to be immediately after spawning, as the larger individuals show spent gonads. Ribbon- fishes are all predacious, carnivorous and some times cannibalistic. Each shoal consists of one species only. They are caught in various types of fishing gear, but chiefly in seines and to some extent in gill-nets and otter trawls and sometimes by hook and line. In Gujarat and Maharashtra landings are the highest in the fourth quarter and lowest in the third quarter; in Kerala, Madras and Andhra they are the highest in the third quarter and lowest in the first quarter and in West Bengal & Orissa they are highest in the fourth quarter and lowest in the second quarter (charts 7 to 13). The fish is marketed fresh or in cured condition (dry cured and wet cured).
CARANGIDS AND ALLIED FISHES: The trevallies, the horse-mackerels, the queenfishes etc. of the family carangidae, the Dolphin fishes of Coryphaenidae and the kingfishes of Rachycentridae are a mixed assemblage of pelagic warm water fishes which form a fairly high proportion of the catches both on the east and west coasts of India. Of the above fishes, the horse-mackerels are the most abundant.
In the annual average landings for 1961-’65 these fishes formed about 3% of the total marine fish catches.
Megalaspis cordyla Linn., Decapterus russelli (Rupp.), Alectis spp., Selaroides leptolepis (Cuv.,), Selar kalla (Cuv.), S. mate (Cuv.). S. crumenophthalmus (BL.), Carangoides malabaricus (Bl.), C.
armatus (Forsk.), Chorinemus lysan (Forsk.), C. tol Cuv. C. sancti-petri Cuv. and Trachinotus blochii (Lac.) are fairly common members of the family Carangidae. Families Rachycentridae and Coryphaenidae are represented by Rachycentron canadus (Linn.) and Coryphaena hippurus (Linn.)
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respectively. Some of the species of Chorinemus, Trachinotus, Caranxignobilis, C. stellatus Eydoux and Souleyet and C. sexfasciatus (Q.G.) grow to over 60 cm while a large number of other Carangids hardly exceed 30 cm in length.
In the annual averages for 1956-’65, as may be seen from charts 7 to 13, the highest yields of carangids are from Madras where they form 9.82% of the marine fishes of the state; ranking next is Kerala with 3.71%. In Gujarat and Mysore the highest yields are in the fourth quarter, in kerala and Madras in the third quarter and in Andhra in the second quarter of the year. In Maharashtra and West Bengal & Orissa carangid catches are poor. In general it may be stated that these fishes occur all round the year.
SILVER BELLIES: Silver bellies or pony fishes of the family Leiognathidae, which occur in the commercial catches along the east and west coasts, are laterally much compressed, slimy fishes with minute scales. They move in shoals in the inshore waters whence they enter the estuaries and even the rivers for some distance from the sea. They are represented by three genera viz., Secutor, Leiognathus and Gazza. S. ruconius (Ham-Buch). S. insidiator (Bl.) L. dussumieri (Val.), L. fasciatus (Lac.), L.
equulus (Forsk.), L. bindus (Val.), L. lineolatus (Val.) and G. minuta (Val.) are fairly common, but L.
splendens Cuv. is the most abundant. Most of them are small fish about 10 to 13 cm in length and a few like L. equulus are known to grow up to 30 cm. They are low-priced fish caught in quantities by shore- seines, boat-seines and trawl-nets and cured by sun-drying.
In Gujarat, Maharashtra and Mysore states the catches of silver bellies are insignificant. The bulk of landings are from Madras, Kerala and Andhra states. Heavy landings of silver bellies are obtained on the south-eastern coast in the vicinities of Manadapam, Rameswaram, Pamban and Thangachimadam and on the south-western coast in the vicinities of Kerala backwaters. Off Visakhapatnam and Kallingapatnam on the east coast silver bellies are caught in fair abundance.
The annual average catch of silver bellies (1961-’65) is 21,523 metric tons forming 2.93% of the total marine fish catch of India.
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Within Madras state they form 6.79%, in Kerala 2.5%, in Andhra 5.12% and in West Bengal & Orissa 3.5% of the marine fish catches. The fishery in Kerala commences in the second quarter, reaches the peak in the third quarter and dwindles by the fourth quarter. In Madras the fishery is fairly good in the second, third and fourth quarters with the peak catches in the third quarter; in Andhra and West Bengal & Orissa very good catches are obtained in the first and second quarters (charts 10 to 13).
LACTARIUS: The whitefish, Lactarius lactarius (Schn.) of the family Lactariidae is a small- sized, carnivorous fish growing up to 28 cm in length. The size range in commercial catches is between 13 and 25 cm. Lactarius moves in shoals in inshore waters; it is more abundant in the east coast than on the west coast. In the marine fishes of the states, Lactarius forms 5.2% in Madras, 1.97% in Andhra and about 1% in Kerala (based on annual average catches for 1956-’65). The landing centres on the east coast are Mukkur, Pamban, Sippikulam, Idinthakarai, Tranquebar and Madras city in Madras state, Uppada in Andhra and Gopalpur in Orissa. The major landing centres on the west coast are Kozhikode, Thanur and Ponnani in Kerala. In the Kutch region Lactarius forms a good proportion of the trawler catches.
In the all-India catches for 1961-’65, Lactarius amounted to 7,539 metric tons forming 1.02% of the marine fishes. The landings are extremely good in the second and third quarters in Kerala, third and fourth quarters in Madras and first, second and fourth quarters in Andhra. Lacturius is consumed either fresh or in cured state.
THE POMFRETS: The Pomfrets (Family Stromatidae) are among the best of the table fishes having ovate, compressed bodies, occurring in shoals usually away from the shore comparatively in deeper waters. The brown pomfret Parastromateus niger (Bl.), the silver pomfret Pampus argenteus (Euphr.) and the Chinese pomfret Pampu chinensis (Euphr.) represent this group which forms about 2.64% of the marine fishes (Annual average for 1961-’65). As seen from chart 7 to 13, pomfrets are best obtained in the fourth quarter of the year in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala. In Andhra there is a gradual decline of the catch from the first to last quarters. In West Bengal & Orissa the variation in catches is not marked from quarter to quarter. In the annual statewise averages for
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1956-’65 the catches decreased from Gujarat to Maharashtra, Andhra, Kerala Madras and West Bengal
& Orissa in the order of abundance (charts 7 to 9 and 11 to 13).
THE MACKEREL: The Indian Mackerel. Rastrelliger kanagurta Cuv. of the family Scombridae, is a much esteemed table fish which is widely distributed in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, from the east coast of Africa to Northern Australia and Micronesian and Polynesian groups of Islands, contributing to fisheries of some magnitude in some countries in the region. In the 1961-’65 period, the annual average of the mackerel landings in India has been 41,505 metric tons forming 5-6% of the marine fish catch. In the 10-years period of 1956-’65 the annual average has been 62,193 metric tons, with the lowest catch of 16,426 metric tons in 1956 forming 2.29% and the highest catch of 133.655 metric tons in 1960 forming 15.22%. The highest percentage of mackerel catch was 19.65 in 1951. In that year, in 1958 and 1960 the mackerel catches have exceeded 1 lakh metric tons.
Unlike the oil sardine the fishery of which is confined to the west coast, the mackerel supports fisheries on both the coasts, although the bulk of the landings to the extent of about 80% comes from the west coast centres, the chief among them being Quilon, Alleppey, Cochin, Calicut, Tellicherry, Malpe, Karwar and Malwan. The fishery in general extends on the west coast from Cape Comorin to Ratnagiri.
On the east coast sporadic catches occur near Mandapam, Nagapattinam, Madras, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam and some parts of Orissa (Pradhan and Rao, 1958; Venkataraman, 1967). For the 10 years period, the annual average landings have been the highest from Mysore (29,875 metric tons), Kerala ranking next (25,940 metric tons) followed by Maharashtra (3,657 metric tons). Mackerel landings in Madras state (2,049 metric tons) are higher than those in Andhra (1,202 metric tons). Those from Orissa
& West Bengal are insignificant (89 metric tons).
In Konkan, north Kanara and south Kanara, the chief gears in operation are the shore-seines (Rampani), gill-nets (Patta bale) and cast-nets (Pag). The types of fishing boats are Pandi, Hodi and Dhoni with or without out-riggers. In Kerala boat-seines (Odam vala, Paithu vala, Ayila kolli vala, Thattum vala, Nona vala) shore-seines (Kara vala) and gill-nets
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(Ayila chala vala) are operated with the help of dugout-canoes. In Madras state Masula boats, Tuticorin types of boats, canoes and catamarans are chiefly used for operating different types of shore-seines, boat seines, bag-nets and gill-nets. In Andhra and Orissa more or less similar types of gear are used as in Madras, with Masula boats, plank built boats and catamarans.
The fishing season starts very early in about August in the southern zone from Cape Comorin to Ponnani and lasts till February. In the Central zone from Ponnani to Mangalore also the season starts at about the same time and lasts till March-April. In the northern zone from Mangalore to Ratnagiri the fishery starts late by about October-November and lasts till about March. Peak catches occur in October- November. In Karwar and South Kanara two peaks are noticed, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the fishing season. As may be seen from charts 8 to 10, mackerel landings are the highest in the fourth quarter and moderate in the first quarter and poor in the second and third quarters of the year in Maharashtra, Mysore and Kerala states. In Madras the third quarter’s catches are the highest and the fourth quarter’s the lowest (chart 11). In Andhra the catches are uniformly moderate in all the quarters except in the third quarter when they are the lowest (chart 12). In West Bengal & Orissa the catches are poor in all quarters (chart 13).
The fishery is supported mostly by juveniles between 16-18 cm. Regarding the rate of growth different views are held. Recent investigations at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute show that the fish attains a length of 22 cm at the end of the first year and about 24 cm at the end of the second year of its life. The 18 cm size common in the mackerel fishery is suppposed to be reached in about 5 to 6 months. Sexual maturity is attained when the fish is about 22 cm in length. The spawning season on the west coast appears to be prolonged with the possibility of two spawning periods i.e. about May-August and November-March. On the east coast October-November and May-June appear to be the periods when the fish spawn in different regions. There appear to be good spawning grounds off Vizhingam and Madras.
Mackerel is pelagic and the fishery is confined to the inshore region, but small numbers are occasionally obtained from deeper waters as
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have been reported from Bombay-Saurashtra coast (Narayanan Kutty, 1962). An inverse relationship between oil sardine landings and mackerel landings has been observed (Nair and Chidambaram, 1951).
There are, however, some years during which both the mackerel and oil sardine catches have been recorded to be very high. For instance in 1960 the oil sardine catch was 189,016 metric tons (21.5%) and the mackerel catch was 133,655 metric tons (15.22%); similarly in1958 the oil sardine catch was 123,730 metric tons (16.4%) and mackerel catch 123,282 metric tons (16.31%).
The mackerel is a plankton feeder, though occasionally carnivorous tendencies have been observed.
Possibily the shoreward movement of the mackerel shoals in the period of the fishery is determined by the abundance of planktonic food items in any particular region. There appears to be some relationship between rainfall in the region and the landings of mackerel. In respect of the wind force in monsoon and the fluctuations in the fishery, it is observed that good fisheries have resulted when the wind force had mean values.
Mackerel is consumed fresh or in cured condition. About 50% of the catch is salt-dried, wet- cured or pickled by Colombo method using salt and tamarind. When catches are big, they are impounded for a short period in shallow waters by Rampani nets before they could be disposed of in a satisfactory manner.
SEERFISHES: Seerfishes of the family Scombridae are represented by a few species under two genera, Scomberomorus Lacepede and Acanthocybium Gill. They are in general high-priced quality fishes. Some of the species grow to over a metre in length. The barred Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus commerson Lac., the streaked Spanish mackerel S. lineolatus (Cuv.), the spotted Spanish mackerel S. guttatus (Sch.) and the wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri (Cuv.) are the common species under this group.
The all-India annual average catch of seerfishes for 1961-’65 is 10,420 metric tons forming 1.41% of the marine fish cartch. As is seen from the charts 8 to 13 the major portion of the catch comes from Madras, Andhra and Kerala, although fair quantities are landed in Maharashtra and Mysore. In the remaining maritime states they are landed in small quantities only. In the 10-year period of 1956-’65 in the annual average
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catch the seerfishes formed 4.03% in Andhra and 2.97% in Madras state. In West Bengal & Orissa also the percentage proportion of the seerfishes is fairly high (2.08%). In Maharashtra, Mysore, Kerala and Madras the peak catches are in the fourth quarter of the year and the lowest catches in the second quarter.
In Andhra and West Bengal & Orissa there is no significant variation in the catches from quarter to quarter.
Seerfishes are caught in types of gear used for other fishes, but they form a high proportion in the landings by gill-nets and hooks and lines. They are consumed fresh or cured (salted and dried or wet- cured) and the demand for them is very high wherever they occur, as they are considered the tastiest among the marine fishes.
TUNNIES AND ALLIED FISHES: Among the scombroid fishes the tunnies and their like under the sub-family Thunnidae (Family Scombridae), the spearfishes and the sailfishes (Family Istiophoridae) and the swordfishes (Family Xiphidae) are economically important food fishes, widely distributed in the tropical and temperate waters. In the past two decades the biological and taxonomic studies of this group of fishes have received much attention in this country. In recent years a large number of new records from the Peninsular India, the Andaman-Nicobar waters and the Laccadive Sea has been reported. Of the tuna and tuna like fishes, the frigate mackerels Auxis thazard (Lac.), A. thynnoides Blkr., the oriential bonito Sarda orientalis (Tem, Schl.), the dogtooth tuna Gymnosarda unicolor (Rupp.) the oriental bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus orientalis (Tem. Schl.), the albacore Thunnus (Thunns) alalunga (Bonn.), the bigeye tuna Thunnus (Parathunnus) obesus mebachi Kish., the northern bluefin tuna Thunnus (Kishinoella) tonggol (Blkr.), the yellowfin tuna Thunnus (Neo thunnus) albacares macropterus (Tem, Schl.), The oceanic skipjack Katsuwonus pelamis (Linn.), the Atlantic little tunny Euthynnus alletteratus (Ref.) and the mackerel tuna Euthynnus affinis affinis (Cantor) are now well known. The representatives of the family Istiophoridae in the seas around India are the sailfish Istiophorus gladius (Brouss.), the striped marlin Tetrapturus aulax Philippi, the shortbill spearfish T. angustirostris Tanaka, the black marlin Makaira indica (Cuv.) and the blue marlin M. nigricans Lac. Of the family Xiphiidae, there is a lone representative, the swordfish Xiphias gladius Linn. which is cosmopolitan in its distribution. Their size
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range is very wide. The mackerel tuna and the frigate mackerel grow to about 60 cm, the yellowfin tuna to over 1.8 metres and the billfishes to over 3 metres in length. The blue marlin and the swordfish grow to about 4 to 4.3 metres.
Excepting in Minicoy, in the Laccadive Archipelago, where the oceanic skipjack is fished in considerable quantities, there is no organised tuna fisheries on the Indian coasts. The species obtained from the inshore waters are commercially less important ones unlike those from the high seas. Although India’s catch of these fishes is negligible at present, her central position in the Indian Ocean offers considerable advantage over other countries for the development of the latent oceanic fisheries of this region (Jones and Silas, 1964; Jones, 1967b).
In the inshore fisheries the annual average catch of this group of fishes for 1961-’65 period is 4,657 metric tons forming 0.63%. Among the major coastal states Kerala ranks first with 2,153 metric tons and Madras second with 1,025 metric tons of tunas and related fishes as annual averages for the period 1956-’65. In Kerala and Madras the maximum yields are in the fourth quarter; in Andhra the highest catch for the year is in the second quarter. These fishes are obtained as incidental catches in types of gear operated for other fishes. In Minicoy, shoals of skipjack when sighted are chummed by throwing bait-fishes into the sea and caught by pole and line fishing. The hooks are unbarbed and unbaited. The tuna fishing boats are very much sturdier and stronger than the types of boats usually employed in the inshore fishing operations for other fishes. Tuna meat is boiled in brine, smoked and sun-dried. The product thus cured as masmin is exported to neighbouring countries (Jones and Kumaran, 1959).
BARRACUDAS AND GREY MULLETS: The barracudas (Family Sphyraenidae), the grey mullets (Family Mugilidae) and the hardyheads (Family Atherinidae) comprise a supergroup (Order Mugiliformes) the members of which inhabit mostly the inshore waters, often entering the estuaries and backwaters.
The barracudas are represented in Indian waters by several species under the
genus Sphyraena of which the more common ones are Sphyraena
